Letters to Wilma will trace the path of a WWII Army doctor from training on Cape Cod, to landing D-Day plus 6 in Normandy, and concluding 1400 miles later in Leipzig, Germany. Greg's path included the Battle of the Bulge and the liberation of the slave labor camp at Nordhausen, with the 438th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion. Wilma became his wife, and I their fourth child.

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08 August, 2012

08 August 1945

438th AAA AW BN

APO 513 % Postmaster, N.Y.

8 August, 1945 0930

Nancy

Wilma darling –

It’s raining today – the first time in about a month and despite the grayness of the day, I’m rather enjoying it. It has come a little too late for the farmers, though. In a year in which they really needed a large crops – the latter are very poor; the potatoes, tomatoes – etc are tiny and the rain at this stage won’t help.

Now – I’m no farmer, so I’ll get off that subject immediately. Sweetheart I didn’t write to you yesterday because I was away almost the entire day. It was in connection with Special Service – we’re looking for a spot where the 438th can send its own men for a few days relaxation and there are beaucoups such spots in the Vosges. Gosh, darling, it’s lovely country down here and I sure would have loved to have had you here with me yesterday. The Vosges aren’t very high – but they help form some very pretty valleys are just as picturesque as you can imagine.

Village in a Vosges valley

Anyway – we think we have a place on a lake – and we’ll probably go back at the end of the week and make it definite. I returned fairly late and was disappointed to find no mail from you. Damn the service! I did get a V-mail from Stan Levine. He hadn’t written in some time but excused himself because he had had a minor operation à la derrière. He told me of his trip to the Cape and visit with Irv and also wrote he was glad I was getting back home in September. I’d be glad too, darling.

You wrote the other day about meeting a couple from New York – and the fellow being with or having been with the 104th. That was a crack outfit headed by General Terry Allen who used to run the First Division. They didn’t – i.e. the 104th – get into the fight until after Normandy – and I couldn’t understand how that fellow could mention the congestion at Utah Beach – unless he had landed with another outfit and then transferred to the 104th. There was no congestion after the first six weeks. I don’t remember whether I told you or not, dear – but the 438th landed at Omaha – although I did go up to Utah Beach once to evacuate a fellow in our outfit who had cracked up mentally. In those days there were no General Hospitals on the Continent and all such cases were being evacuated to England by air. They had an airstrip right next to the Beach.

Anyway – I’m glad you found the stories interesting, darling, because I know I’m going to have a lot to tell you. Of course – to stimulate your interest – I’ll tell you how I never slept in a chateau but what I missed you and wished you were with me; how I loved and wanted you hour by hour and day by day. And I can imagine my story telling being postponed to a later date at that point due to circumstances beyond our control. Oh me oh my!

Your reference to Pete and “the girl he took to the dances” dear, goes all the way back to Sherborne, England. Pete never did go out much with girls – but he fell for a V.A.D. (Voluntary Aid Detachment) girl associated with the British Naval Hospital in town and he used to take her to dances held in town. That’s all there was to that.

The days are drifting by, sweetheart, and they must be bringing us closer together. It’s hard to see from here – but we’ve got to believe it. I can say only, darling, that I love you and miss you more and more each day and I’m just praying for the day when we’re together once again.

Will stop now, dear. My love to the folks – and

All my sweetest love is yours –

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about The Soviet Union's Declaration of War

The dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima by the Americans did not have the effect intended: unconditional surrender by Japan. Half of the Japanese inner Cabinet, called the Supreme War Direction Council, refused to surrender unless guarantees about Japan's future were given by the Allies, especially regarding the position of the emperor, Hirohito. The only Japanese civilians who even knew what happened at Hiroshima were either dead or suffering terribly.

On 8 August 1945, the Soviet Union officially declared war on Japan. Here is Foreign Commissar Molotov’s announcement of the declaration of war, as broadcast by Moscow:

On August 8, People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the U.S.S.R. Molotov received the Japanese Ambassador, Mr. Sato, and gave him, on behalf of the Soviet Government, the following for transmission to the Japanese Government:

After the defeat and capitulation of Hitlerite Germany, Japan became the only great power that still stood for the continuation of the war.

The demand of the three powers, the United States, Great Britain and China, on July 26 for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese armed forces was rejected by Japan, and thus the proposal of the Japanese Government to the Soviet Union on mediation in the war in the Far East loses all basis.

Taking into consideration the refusal of Japan to capitulate, the Allies submitted to the Soviet Government a proposal to join the war against Japanese aggression and thus shorten the duration of the war, reduce the number of victims and facilitate the speedy restoration of universal peace.

Loyal to its Allied duty, the Soviet Government has accepted the proposals of the Allies and has joined in the declaration of the Allied powers of July 26.

The Soviet Government considers that this policy is the only means able to bring peace nearer, free the people from further sacrifice and suffering and give the Japanese people the possibility of avoiding the dangers and destruction suffered by Germany after her refusal to capitulate unconditionally.

In view of the above, the Soviet Government declares that from tomorrow, that is from August 9, the Soviet Government will consider itself to be at war with Japan.